OK, found it on orange fastback pages. Water with some bicarbonate of soda, with anodes (to +) and part to clean electrolytically as cathode (-). Battery charger works, or welder (with caution and lower setting if available)!
Just a note, I've heard it is not advisable to use this method of rust removal on stressed items - suspension components eg, due to hydrogen embrittlement. Anyone know if that's correct?

Feels like I never get out of work! I have done quite well of late though.

I gave it a blow over with primer.

After a few hours of pondering, I wasn't any closer to working out how to replace it. All id managed to do was decide it was too far gone to repair. I had a chat with the fabricators at work. We decided this coffee table was the most useful thing to sacrifice.

It turns out, we were right

It isnt 100%, but its so close that with a bit of beating then the shape is there.

The radii is just slightly too shallow. But as a cost effective die, I wasnt going to do much better. I put a sheet of mild in, clamped it down with every G clamp I own and started thumping. I didnt watch the clock but Im sure a solid 30 minutes went past. I was never going to be able to make it in a oner though. So I formed a block to form the bottom lip.

I forgot to photograph this, but its just a flat plate with a lip round the inside, I then welded the two halves together.

As you can see, it still needs some trimming and cleaning up, but as a rough cut. This is version 1.0. I can already think of ways I could improve it, which might lead to V1.1 If I can make a male die for the coffee table corners then I can smooth the curve no end. This will reduce the welding, something which im cautious of as I know of the difficulty in reapplying rust treatment. And in a rare instance its an area deigned to get wet.

Feeling as though id expended a lot of energy on that, I decided to fettle something a little easier. At lunch today I folded myself a nice long strip of tin, this evening I chased a groove into it.

Yes its for the panel in the back ground, im trying to recreate the front lip which the foam seal is compressed into. I blasted the remaining panel to find the worst of the whole to know how far I need to go, and its a little further yet.

But I tacked this in to see how it fits in the bulk head

Its very close, I think Ive folded it about 5 degrees to far so ill have to tap it back, but otherwise I think it will work reasonably well.

Last edited by broady_6 on 30th June 2017 - 4:43pm, edited 2 times in total.

Was it really that long ago. Ive hidden all my bank cards this time so I cant by any other cars to take my focus. During the strong winds of two weeks ago the cover blew off, and as the temperature picked up I decided to leave it off. A few days of seeing it gave me some motivation I didn't realise I was missing. Ive picked up where i left off and done a little pottering.

So this was V1.0 and pretty awful

Out with the cardboard for a little CAD

To get the radii correct I made another template

It wasnt 100% the right shape but its good enough for government work.

With the center knocked out and then the lip peened over I gave it a test fit on the airbox

With the easy bit out of they way I turned my thoughts to how id make the curved lip. First up I would use some more of that old coffee table to form some sheet.

And I think i got the profile about bang on

A friend of mine kindly lent me his Shrink/strech and it worked wonders. Here it is chomping away.

I got a little carried away as it started to take shape, but I welded the cured lip on to the base and then welded in the one short straight section. After couple of minutes in the sane blaster it took this form.

Once its had a trim and a few light whacks with a hammer then i think V2.0 Will be fit for use!

Last edited by broady_6 on 30th June 2017 - 3:59pm, edited 2 times in total.

I'm amazed you're spending so much care re-creating the part when it will never be seen! That area is a prime candidate for fibreglass technology. In fact, it deserves a complete tray being produced in plastic or GRP.

But it has been seen, the photos will show what its like inside. Over the years as my skills have improved so has my desire for detail. Along with the fact I went through the car to seal every rotten hole i could find, and water still kept getting in. The reason I ended up parking the car was because it would rain when ever i took it out and start filling up. Iwas sick of it trying to rot out the repairs id made. It was much later reading a thread on here that I saw the airbox and realised what had happened. I immediately understood where the water was getting in. As a result, "ill fix you good" I supposed it more out of spite than anything. good ole inanimate objects

Last edited by broady_6 on 20th May 2017 - 5:34pm, edited 1 time in total.

A night off tonight, a very busy day so I'm sat in the garden, blistering sunshine and a number of tins of beer with a laptop. What could go wrong?

With the water shield its self made, I needed to repair the remainder of the panel. This piece had a tiny channel pressed into it to coerce the water down the drain tube.

Bravely I sliced it out and attempted a repair and tempted to copy it, crudely creating the channel with a ball peen and a vice.

The other side was much less challenging. I left plenty of meat on the bone for profiling.

To give the panel its shape I fastened it to the airbox.

The next step was a bit more tricky than I had anticipated, the front lip needed to take the profile of the under bonnet area and also have a groove for the foam seal. Using the press brake and folder and work on Monday evening I made this rough profile.

After a lot of time timing and fettling I got it to this stage

Welded in

I offered this up to the car and its about bang on, so tonight ill order some foam seal. I then made a template to fill in the centre of the panel. itll be later in the week before I can get back to this, but its coming on quite well.

Last edited by broady_6 on 30th June 2017 - 3:46pm, edited 2 times in total.